The Harvard Law School Library staff invite you to attend a book talk for Nazi-Looted Art and the Law: The American Cases by Bruce L. Hay (Springer, Jan. 25, 2018). Bruce L. Hay is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Harvard Law School WCC 2036 Milstein East B (directions)
1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
About Nazi-Looted Art and the Law: The American Cases
“This book offers a clear, accessible account of the American litigation over the restitution of works of art taken from Jewish families during the Holocaust. For the past two decades, the courts of the United States have been an arena of conflict over this issue that has recently captured widespread public attention. In a series of cases, survivors and heirs have come forward to claim artworks in public and private collections around the world, asserting that they were seized by the Nazis or were sold under duress by owners desperate to escape occupied countries. Spanning two continents and three-quarters of a century, the cases confront the courts with complex problems of domestic and international law, clashes among the laws of different jurisdictions, factual uncertainties about the movements of art during and after the war, and the persistent question whether restitution claims have been extinguished by the passage of time.Through individual case studies, the book examines the legal questions these conflicts have raised and the answers the courts have given. From the internationally celebrated “Woman in Gold” lawsuit against Austria to lesser-known claims against Germany, Hungary, Spain, and museums and private collections in the United States, the book synthesizes the legal and evidentiary materials and judicial rulings in each case, creating a coherent narrative of proceedings that are often labyrinthine in complexity. Written by a leading authority on litigation and procedure, the book will be of interest to readers in various fields of the humanities and social sciences as well as law, and to anyone interested in the fate of artworks that have been called the “last prisoners” of the Second World War.” — Springer
About Bruce Hay
Professor Hay’s primary field is legal procedure, including civil litigation, conflicts of law, and dispute resolution. His latest book, Nazi-Looted Art and the Law (2017), examines the intricacies of the American courts’ adjudication of Holocaust-era restitution claims, which raise myriad problems of domestic, international and foreign law as well as difficult evidentiary questions. He is also interested in the economic analysis of law, including the economics of litigation, liability, and insurance. Before joining the Harvard faculty he clerked at the United States Supreme Court, and practiced law with Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, DC, specializing in appellate cases. He studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, l’Université d’Aix-en-Provence, and Harvard Law School.